jute is the ultimate soft wood

Wood is predominately used for coarse transport packages and is still widely used around the world (Johansson et al., 1997). The wooden package is very common, and extremely popular within Western Europe. Wooden pallets and boxes have become quite popular with the increasing demand for transportation (Johansson et al., 1997).wood is the natural, environment friendly packaging materiel.

jute also a 100% natural packaging materiel which has excellent rigidity, stacking strength and physical protection in very economic price compared to wood.

As a packaging materials jute and wood are closed to each other. To be considered as a good packaging material, humidity & moisture content and pest controls qualities are very important. Here we have tried to put some light on these qualities and comparative analysis between wood and jute.

Humidity and Moisture Content:

Hygroscopicity is one of the most important properties of wood and jute as a packaging material. It means that depending upon the moisture content of the surrounding air; it absorbs or releases water vapor, resulting in equilibrium moisture content. If the material is in a relatively dry environment, it tends to release water vapor and conversely, it readily absorbs water vapor in a relatively moist environment. This is how these packaging materials helps to keep produces fresh for long duration.

wood

The wood used for making packages should have 12-15% water content. These values approximately match the equilibrium moisture content at normal amounts of relative humidity within the atmosphere. Figure 4 shows the sorption isotherm for wood at 20°C (Kord & Pazirandeh, 2008).

Jute

Compared to wood, Jute water content remains 12.5% at 65% relative humidity & 20℃.

Heat treatment for Pest Control:

wood

When wood is used for export packaging, there are special requirements for heat-treatment to destroy insects and other pests. Export shipments can expose a recipient country to pests that are not indigenous and pose special risk of spreading (Twede and Selke, 2005). To protect the forests around the world, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat, part of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, has issued ISPM 15 (International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures) "Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging Material in International Trade”.

Jute

According to The German institute for technical assessment-

'It contains no nutrient base for rodent & insect life, earning the insulation a top rating of ‘0’ (according to EN ISO 846).'

There are also other amazing qualities and properties of jute as packaging materiel in regarding wood, such as-

1.High strength and modulus

2.Low extensibility

3.Moisture absorbing ability

4.High abrasion resistance

5.Good thermal stability

6.Insulation against sound

7.Anti-static property

8.Surface morphology

so we can achieve the following great advantages by using jute as our packaging materiel-

1.Jute Fiber has great antistatic properties; so that any kind of static charges are not produced during Jute Product making or using.

2.Jute is an insulating fiber and this is why it can be used to make cloth which would be used in electrical works.

3.Temperature is passed in this fiber slowly because of the low thermal conductivity

.4.Moisture Regain properties is good enough (about 13.75%).

5.Produce no irritation in skin.

6.100% Biodegradable; so it is environment friendly fiber like Cotton.

7.Cheap in price , in market.

8.Available in the market and the overall productivity of Jute Fiber is good.

9.Tensile strength is high.

10.Jute Fabric is highly breathable and comfortable to use.

11.Can be widely used in Agriculture Sector, Textile Sector, Woven Sector, Non-woven Sector.

12.Jute Fiber can be blended with Natural and Synthetic fibers.

13.Can be died by Basic, Vat, Sulpher and Reactive Dyes.

most importantly as jute can be harvest within 3 months we don't have to cut out precious trees and also we can get rid of plastic packaging and save our mother nature.and for that its gonna cost us nothing more than our true virtual will force and loyalty to our nature.

References:

1. Kord & Pazirandeh, 2008, Comparison of Different Packaging Materials and Solutions on a Cost Basis for Volvo Logistic Corporation, Högskolan i Borås, p18-19